KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — Local production house SunStrong Entertainment has concluded its Scam Prevention Short Film Contest in Beijing, China.

The contest which started in November last year has received over 80 entries in two categories (Open and Student Category) from budding filmmakers from Malaysia and China.

Following the award ceremony last weekend, a total of US$128,000 (RM590,656) was awarded to the top-ten shortlisted entries from each category which included a number of Malaysian-made works.

With the theme Contribute Your Talent to Prevent Scam, the contest aimed to increase awareness on scam prevention through filmmaking.

"These works not only show the creativity and talent of the contestants but also the significance of this contest as we get to see that the society at large is concerned about the prevalence of scams,” said SunStrong Entertainment founder Jment Lim.

The first place in the Open Category went to Help (China), which bagged US$50,000 (RM230,725) with the entry which focusing on the story of a phone scam victim.

Second place was awarded to Bad Days (Malaysia) which was received US$20,000 (RM92,290), followed by Scripted (Malaysia) which came in third to win US$10,000 (RM46,145).

Completing the top 10, seven entries in the category were awarded US$5,000 (RM23,073) including Putih Hati, Love Chess, I’m Here for You, Susan, Money Tree, Bungkam and Desire.

Open Category winners get the chance to submit their film proposals to SunStrong Entertainment for a chance to get a US$1 million (RM4.61 million) film grant.

For the Student Category, the first prize of US$5,000 (RM23,073) went to A Forever Promise (China) which centred on a young graduate who ended up being a job scam victim.

Second place went to Got Trapped (Malaysia) which was awarded US$3,000 (RM13,844) and third place went to Sink (Malaysia), gaining a total of US$1,500 (RM6,922) in winning prize.

A total of US$500 (RM2,307) was awarded to the rest of the seven winning entries in the category which includes The Distant Job, The Untouchable Sight, Catherine’s Love Story, The Naked Price, If and Anti-Fraud Operations.

The contest which was co-organised by China’s Horizon Corporate Volunteer Consultancy also boasted a jury panels that included award-winning Malaysian filmmaker Chong Keat Aun and Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Ruby Yang.

The short films are available for viewing here.